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Namco Bandai composer rips off Chrono Trigger, Lufia II photo

This kind of slipped past my radar, but it seems thst Namco Bandai composer Kennosuke Suemura did a little bit of idea ripping for his Super Robot Taisen series game soundtrack. He was accused of stealing from both Chrono Trigger ("Magus' Theme") and Lufia II (“The One Who Will Save The Earth"). Sounds like this stealing composer likes 16-bit role-playing games as much as I do.

Did he steal, or were people just blindly calling him out? No, I'm pretty sure he stole these melodies. Original Sound Version linked us to a video which you'll find below the jump. It plays the songs in question, letting you compare them to the original pieces. This dude had no shame!

What's crazy is that the composer did this before, earlier with Warcraft II! OSV tells us that Namco Bandai has since released a formal apology and paid a settlement to resolve the issue. I think Namco Bandai needs to send this guy home to play his 16-bit RPGs.


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23 comments | showing # 1 to 23

Stevil's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 11:07
Stevil
Wasn't the original SNES version of Chrono Trigger accused of ripping off Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up for Robo's theme tune?

The circle of life continues.
Qraze's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 11:13
Qraze
they need to get rid of him, he's a liability. i can understand being inspired by a song but that's very different from copying a song. imitation is a great form of flattery but you need permission nonetheless.
gains's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 11:15
gains
This stuff is always a thorny issue.

In vaguely related trivi; Nino Rota was disqualified from winning the Oscar for his score to The Godfather because he reused themes he had written for a film in 1958.
Wedge's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 11:18
Wedge
Yeah but he put two songs together, which totally makes a new one. Y'know, like that mashup crap.
Dreadnought's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 11:23
Dreadnought
@gains,

That's too bad about Mr. Rota. Bugs me that John Williams does the same thing and earns plenty of nominations and awards.
Coltronathon5000's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 11:46
Coltronathon5000
He composed the WC2 theme? and it was ripped off from something? links or it didn't happen.
DanielCampbell's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 11:53
DanielCampbell
At the end of the day, no matter what melody you choose it is going to be a "rip off" of someone else's music.

After listening to the music, it is VERY obvious that it was influenced by the Magus theme. But at least he changed it up some. Do I think he is a good composer? Hell no! But Sqeenix should just be flattered and let it go.
Dexter345's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 11:56
Dexter345
He should have just called them homages and it would have been all right. Or, he "sampled" the other songs for a remix.
ParaParaKing's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 12:00
ParaParaKing
Isn't this like 4 months old?
DanielCampbell's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 12:23
DanielCampbell
Does that matter?
-PL-'s Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 12:26
-PL-
Yeah, this is a huge ripoff of the Magus theme.
kefkaesque's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 12:29
kefkaesque
I don't know the other songs but I can guarantee you that after listening to the song it's a blatant rip off of Magus' Theme.
Waferballs's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 12:34
Waferballs
The piece of music in question is more than influenced by the Magus theme (i'm not familiar with the lufia music). Not only are certain elements of the music direct copies of the CT original, but the whole structure is the same. It's like he didn't even try to disguise it. SHAMEFUL!
l33tminion's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 12:57
l33tminion
There's a fine line between inspiration and plagiarism when it comes to art, but this guy crossed that line and then kept going quite a ways.
Turbofail's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 13:10
Turbofail
'He should have just called them homages"

It's been working for Rob Liefeld for years.
Pacopaco's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 13:17
Pacopaco
There's a gray area when it comes to using pre-existing music where one can use terms like "homage," "inspired by," etc. but I don't think this even comes close. This guy essentially took the themes, swapped the instruments, and was passing it off as his own work.

My vote is for "rip-off."
maifren's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 14:16
maifren
i can't belive someone would do such a thing
shame on him!!!!
kingtobo's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 14:54
kingtobo
Definitely don't think this is different enough to be called anything but a ripoff and since it's ripping off something from the same genre of video games the chance that it's a coincidence is pretty much nonexistent.
atastysammich's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 15:27
atastysammich
I'd love to see the lawsuit-happy Square Enix throw down the gauntlet over this. For some reason, the idea of the Nickel & Dim(e?)ing company and the Remakes, Remakes, Remakes! company butting heads just... turns me on.
Anifanatic's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 19:22
Anifanatic
What the crap. Took a moment for the Magus Theme Rip to kick in but once it does, there's no denying it. The Lufia Rip is pretty damn obvious from the beginning. There's no use saying "I didn't know" either because that's like being a writer and 'accidentally' rip off of Tolein and not have heard of him. Bullshit, one of the most celebrated and well known games ever by one of the most well known composers in the industry and you accidentally rip him off?
Anifanatic's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/28/2009 19:37
Anifanatic
Double Post: Took a while to register on that site since I don't speak/read Japanese (been meaning to for a while now). The Warcraft II ripoff is as blatant as the other ones. Sad face.
Im OK's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/29/2009 16:26
Im OK
Unlike the EarthBound thing, there is actually a case here. That is totally a rip-off of Magus's theme. I'm not as familiar with Lufia, having not played it, but from listening to it I can still tell it's practically the same thing.

Did this guy somehow really think that nobody would catch on to this and call him on it?

Still, this is nothing new. Remember that Timbaland thing from a few years back? And, of course, let's not forget this or this. Not that the fact that it has been happening forever makes it okay or anything. *shrug*
Zeal404's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/30/2009 08:12
Zeal404
I watched the video and didn't think about it. While it was playing in the background I was saying "why did they start the Magus theme in the middle?"

Chrono Trigger was probably my favorite SNES game and I love the music more than anything. so weird that it was all pieced together and like...ALL PIECED TOGETHER
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